**4.1. Sugarcane varieties bred in mainland China**

**Figure 4.** Sugarcane production areas in China.

and northern in Hainan (**Figure 4**).

sugarcane production has become a little profitable, and farmers are consequently planting more (the planting season is typically February and March). Sugar mill contacts have also confirmed that farmers are keeping more of their cane for seed, highlighting this expected increase in area. These increases are anticipated to be greatest in Guangxi, which accounts for

The major sugarcane production area in China is located between latitude 18.5°N and 32°N and longitude 92°E and 122°E, including Guangxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Taiwan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces (or autonomous regions). Before the late 1980s, coastal areas in southeastern China such as Guangdong and Fujian were the main sugarcane producing areas. Since then, sugarcane production gradually shifted from southeast to southwest. So, the current major production areas include Guangxi, Yunnan, western Guangdong, and Hainan. The combined sugar production from these provinces accounted for over 90% of the total production in China [4]. Dominant production regions in these provinces were central-south in Guangxi, southwest in Yunnan, western in Guangdong,

over 65% of the nation's total sugarcane production.

52 Sugarcane - Technology and Research

**3. China's major sugarcane production areas**

Sugarcane breeding program in China started in 1953 when the first sugarcane breeding station was established in Yachen, Hainan (formerly known as Yaxian county, 18°27′N and 109°50′E), where sugarcane can flower in the field. Sugarcane fuzzes from this station were sent to sugarcane research institutes in different provinces (**Table 1**). In general, this station can make 1200 crosses from 1600 flowers every year. Besides this station, Ruili hybrid station (Ruili, Yunnan) can provide about 500 crosses. The number of seedlings is about 0.8 million over the country each year. More than 100 sugarcane varieties have been bred and released for commercial sugarcane production in mainland China from 1953 to 2000 [8]. Of these, GT11 (CP49-50 × Co419), YT57-423 (F108 × F134), YT63-237 (Co419 × CP33-310), and MT70- 611 (CP49-50 × F134) have become dominant varieties for a period in different provinces. The combinations and seedling numbers were very limited in China, and the breeding efficiency was very low from 1953 to 2000. For example, less than 50 crosses and 30,000 seedlings were evaluated in the sugarcane breeding program in Guangxi Sugarcane Research Institute before 2001. There were no more new dominant sugarcane varieties bred in mainland China since 1980s when GT11, MT70-611, and YT57-423 were released.

From 2000 to 2016, more than 120 new sugarcane varieties have been released for commercial sugarcane production. Of these, LC05-136 (CP81-1254 ×ROC22), GT42 (ROC22 × GT2-66), YT93- 159 (YN73-204 × CP72-1210), YZ89-151 (GZ64-137 × NJ57-416), YT00-236 (YN73-204 × CP72- 1210), FN41 (ROC20 × YT91-976), GT29 (YC94-46 × ROC22), and GT32 (YT91-976 × ROC1)


Since 1980, the CP and ROC series were used most frequently as commercial cultivars or breeding parents [9]. The most popular and widely used cultivars in mainland China include ROC10, ROC16, ROC22, and ROC25 released by Taiwan Sugar Research Institute in China in 1960–2000, HoCP85-384 by Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma, USA in 2010s. The planting area of these four ROC cultivars has expanded continuously due to their high cane yield, high sucrose content, and adaptation to a range of environmental conditions, which accounted for over 70% of the total planting area of mainland China since 1990. The growing areas of new varieties bred in mainland China accounted for less than 30%. Susceptibility to smut, poor ratooning ability as well as adaptability, and yield stability of these newly bred varieties in mainland China are commonly poorer than those of ROC varieties. However, success in the improvement of sucrose content is partly attributed, at least, to the use of introduced varieties with high sucrose, such as CP and ROC varieties, as parents in China. Many of cultivars bred in mainland China have higher sucrose or higher tons cane per hectare (TCH) than the ROC

China, one of the diversity centers of *Saccharum* complex, is rich in sugarcane germplasm resources. Since 1980s, Chinese sugarcane breeders have collected a large number of wild cane resources from different provinces and overseas and maintained most of these in the National Sugarcane Germplasm Nursery, Kaiyuan City, Yunnan province. Among them, *S. spontaneum* and *Erianthus arundinaceus* are more prominent than other wild species (**Table 2**).

A basic breeding program was established for crossing the local *S. spontaneum* at Yacheng with

released and widely used in the Chinese breeding program, including YC58-43, YC58-47, Ya71- 374, and Ya73-512, which in turn have produced a lot of commercial varieties, respectively. In addition, more attentions were paid to the germplasm innovation by exchanging germplasm with other countries, utilizing local wild germplasm collections, such as *S. spontaneum*, *E. arundinaceus*, and *Narenga porphyrocoma*, which were crossed and backcrossed with commercial

The genus *Erianthus* is one of the important wild relatives to sugarcane and has attracted considerable interest from sugarcane breeders worldwide for many decades. Within the genus *Erianthus*, most species including *Erianthus arundinaceus*, *Erianthus fulvus,* and *Erianthus rockii* have many superior traits for sugarcane improvement, such as high biomass, vigor, ratooning ability, tolerance to abiotic stresses caused by drought and water logging, and resistance to biotic stresses arising from various pathogens and pests [11]. In order to transfer desirable traits from the genus *Erianthus* into sugarcane, sugarcane has been hybridized with the genus *Erianthus* in China since 1990. In general, *S. officinarum* was usually used as female parent for speeding up the nobilization progress of *Erianthus*, and

and *Erianthus* were used as female parents to backcross with sugarcane, and a number of

hybrids between *S. officinarum* and *Erianthus* have been obtained

progeny could not be backcrossed directly to sugar-

progenies have been

Sugarcane Production in China

55

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73113

progenies [10].

to BC4

progeny between *S. officinarum*

*Saccharum officinarum* (Badila and other noble cane) in 1953. Several F1

sugarcane varieties. Some promising clones have been selected from BC1

(Taiwan, China) varieties.

a series of intergeneric F1

successfully. However, the resulting F1

cane as male parents due to pollen sterility [12]. Hence, the F1

**4.3. Basic hybridization program in mainland China**

**Table 1.** The main sugarcane research institutes in different provinces in mainland China.

was the major cultivars released by Chinese breeding program. These achievements were contributed to the increasing seedling scales and the inputs for breeding program. Substantial financial support from the government for the long term provides an excellent chance for sugarcane improvement. In Guangxi, the cross combination number increased up to 500–1000, and total seedling numbers to 100,000–400,000 since 2002. The highest seedling number reached 600,000 in 2012. In Fujian, Yunnan, and Guangdong, the situations are almost same as Guangxi.

#### **4.2. Introduced sugarcane varieties in mainland China**

A large number of overseas sugarcane varieties have been introduced into mainland China since 1930, such as CP series from USA, Q series from Australia, PR series from Puerto Rico, RB series from Brazil, F and ROC series from Taiwan, China, and POJ series from Philippines. After quarantine, most of them have been used as parental clones in the breeding program in China. However, some introduced varieties were suitable for commercial production in some cane growing areas and adopted directly as cultivars. POJ2725, POJ2878, and POJ2883 were firstly introduced from the Philippines, and Badila from Australia, but only POJ2878 and POJ2725 became major varieties for sugar production in China in 1930s. F134 and Co419 (originally from India) were introduced to the mainland from Taiwan in 1947. F134 became the most popular variety in the sugarcane growing areas in mainland China until early 1980. Since 1980, the CP and ROC series were used most frequently as commercial cultivars or breeding parents [9]. The most popular and widely used cultivars in mainland China include ROC10, ROC16, ROC22, and ROC25 released by Taiwan Sugar Research Institute in China in 1960–2000, HoCP85-384 by Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma, USA in 2010s. The planting area of these four ROC cultivars has expanded continuously due to their high cane yield, high sucrose content, and adaptation to a range of environmental conditions, which accounted for over 70% of the total planting area of mainland China since 1990. The growing areas of new varieties bred in mainland China accounted for less than 30%. Susceptibility to smut, poor ratooning ability as well as adaptability, and yield stability of these newly bred varieties in mainland China are commonly poorer than those of ROC varieties. However, success in the improvement of sucrose content is partly attributed, at least, to the use of introduced varieties with high sucrose, such as CP and ROC varieties, as parents in China. Many of cultivars bred in mainland China have higher sucrose or higher tons cane per hectare (TCH) than the ROC (Taiwan, China) varieties.
